Phantasy Star Online: The Mystery of Pioneer 1
by lloyd1191
Summary: Join our Hunter Max as he's hired to investigate Pioneer 1. This is my first story, so don't expect much.
1. The Hunter

The game does not belong to me or anything in it, it belongs to SEGA. Please does not sue me, because I have no money. This story is for those that haven't played this game or never heard of, so for those who have, be careful because there will be some spoilers. Please go easy on me if you leave a review because am new on this kind of thing, still give me your opinion anyway if you want. Thank you and enjoy.

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Phantasy Star Online: The Mystery of Pioneer 1.

1. The Hunter

It is a quiet night in Pioneer 2, a city in outer space full with colonizers orbiting a planet called Ragol, with the infinite space filled with stars sparkling like little diamonds, the people going on with their own businesses, some buying the necessary groceries, some working on their own stores, and some are simply enjoying themselves in the city. Except for one man.

Principal Tyrell, the man placed in charge by the council of Pioneer 2 after the destruction of their home world. He was a tall man with a tan-like color skin and gray hair, wearing a green uniform with some purple designs and neck which splits to both sides of the head. He was looking through some reports send by the council regarding the unmanned search team that was sent to investigate the incident in Pioneer 1, a dome where the rest of the people was living.

"This isn't looking good," says the principal after reading the report, "and to top it off the council seems to be getting nervous about it," says with a serious look on his face.

"Alice, look for any available Hunter (1) and let me know when you find someone, please," says Tyller to her secretary, a young woman with short orange hair and white skin. She was wearing a white colored uniform with green on the shoulders.

"Right away, sir," after searching a little while she finds a young man with short brown hair, and white skin. 'How about this one, sir? He's a new Hunter in Pioneer 2, his name is Max Lawer, a Humar (2) type hunter."

"We're in no position to be picky, call him in, he might surprise us."

"Right away, sir," after saying that, she sends the call.

After a few minutes, Max arrives at the office of the principal. The office can be reached through a portal in town, the office is closed inside a window-like dome with a little pathway, where at the end is the principal. Behind him was filled with monitors with messages and information.

"You must be Max, the new Hunter in Pioneer 2. My name is Principal Tyrell," says with a serious look.

"Hello, sir, how may I be of assistance?" says Max in a neutral tone. He was wearing a orange colored armor.

"We have a bad situation and we need to act quickly," says with a calm, yet professional tone.

"What kind of situation?" says with a curious tone.

"You already know about the explosion in Ragol, correct?"

"Yes, sir, it was all over the news"

"Good, now listen carefully. We lost contact with Pioneer 1 after the explosion and have no idea of what happened. We've sent unmanned search teams, but we lost communication near the surface, so the council decided to send a manned team search to investigate."

"If that's the case, why not send the military?" says Max, thinking that it might be easier than sending a simple Hunter

"The council wants to keep it confidential to avoid rising panic. That's why we need you to investigate so that we can settle on"

"Very well, sir, I'll do what I can."

"Good, now be on your way and be careful"

"Yes, sir" says Max and turns around to leave the office.

"Wait" says the Principal.

"Yes, sir?" says Max while stopping and turning back.

"...Could you..." trails off the Principal with a worried look. Then he shake it off and says," never mind, take care and good luck."

"Thank you, sir" says Max, and turns back to the exit.

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"Whoa, okay, I survived without looking bad," thinks Max once he was out of the office and into the town," I got to do my best on this job, since it could help get my name out and help me become stronger, but before I head out to Ragol, I have to make sure am prepared. Maybe a few more monomate (3) and a telepipe (4) would help," after though that he heads to a nearby store that specializes in medicines and buy some. After that he heads to the portal that leads to Ragol. He reaches the portal and is stopped by two guards. The guards were wearing green colored armor with blue gloves, shoes and helmet.

"Sorry, but this portal is restricted without permission," says one of the guards with a neutral tone.

"I was given permission by Principal Tyrell" answers Max in an even tone, to avoid any disrespect.

"Oh, I see, so you must be the Hunter. We were ordered to let you pass, sorry about that. Go on through," says the guards and open the gate that kept the portal closed to civilians and unauthorized Hunters.

"Thanks," says Max.

"All right then, let's do this," says Max as he approaches the portal and activate it.

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1. Hunter: a specialized fighter who does not belong to the military.

2. Humar: well balanced human hunter who specializes in close combat.

3. Monomate: a medicine that heals wounds slightly.

4. Telepipe: a portable teleportation device.

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Next chapter: Max arrives at Ragol, what will he find there.

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What do you think? I think is a good start for an adventure like this one. Please leave a review even if it could hurt a lot. Like what people call "tough love". Anyways, I might write the next chapter in this week. Thanks for reading this and I hope you enjoyed.


	2. The Forest

The game does not belong to me, or anything in it. It belongs to SEGA, so please don't sue me, since I have no money.

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2. The Forest.

After using the teleportation device, Max arrives to a forested area, filled with green trees, flowers, little rivers, and bushes.

"This doesn't look so bad, I though it would be more scary looking, like dead bodies around, or dead trees with fog around. Can't believe it's off-limits to unauthorized people," says Max in his mind as he explores his surroundings.

Close by, he spots what looks like a gate of some sorts. "The residents or Pioneer 1 must have installed this gates for some reason. It seems open," as he says that he walks to the gate, and it opens automatically as he approaches the gate. As he walks through he gets to some kind of small corridor that bends to the right at the end. Max walks along the road and on the left, he finds some crates.

"What are these doing here? Did someone left these behind?" thinks as he approaches the crates. He examine them and discover that he can't open them. "Damn it, okay, if they won't open, then I'll break them!" says with an annoyed tone, as he pulls a beam saber from his container on the back of his armor and slice the crates open. After opening the crates he puts his saber back to his container.

"Now let's see what we have here," says as he looks through the open crates. "Whoa, I think I hit the jackpot!" says as he pulls out a plasma handgun, " and it seems I found some meseta (1) in them, wonder why they would put them in the crates and leave them behind?" wonders as he picks up the items.

"Well, I don't think they will mind if I take this things with me, it might come in handy," says as he puts the items in his container. After that, he decides to keep walking and finds another door at the end of the corridor. He walks through and find himself inside an open area. It had higher ground surrounding the area, making it look like some kind of pit. On the middle left of the area, Max finds some kind of device.

"It looks like a recording device, better check it out. It might have some clue of what happened to Pioneer 1," thinks as he approaches the device. He activates it and a young woman starts talking in the recording.

"I don't like the looks on this Boomas (2) eyes," says a girl with a concerned voice. "They are normally peaceful, wonder what made them so aggressive? Whoever reads this, do not let them surround you," says with a serious tone as the message ends.

"Boomas, what the hell are those things?" as he wonders that he hears growls behind him. He turns around and sees that he's been surrounded by three beasts with long claws, sharp fangs, standing in two legs, looking at him with red-blood eyes.

"Okay, those must be the Boomas. Don't look so tough," as he thinks that to himself, he pulls his beam saber and prepares himself for battle. The booma on the left decides to attack first, trying to cut him with his claws, but Max sidestepped the attack and quickly cuts the Booma in his midsection. The Booma simply falls and starts to bleed on the ground. Another of the group tries to strike, but misses as Max block the attack. He shoves the claw away and finish him up with a vertical slash with his saber, splitting the attacker in half, turning into another blood pool in the ground.

"Come on guys, you're not even making me break a sweat," says in a mocking tone as he turns to the last Booma standing. "Let's finish this already, I have stuff to do around here," says to the Booma as he charges and gives a three slash combination, leaving the Booma cut into piece on the ground. "This things were very slow, no wonder they need to surround you. Still, they were no match for me," as he says that he puts his beam saber away.

After a few moments as the battle ended, Max hears the sound of a door opening on the far end of the area. "What the? Who opened the door? Maybe the area was in quarantine due to the monsters," thinks Max. "Oh well, as long as it opens, I hardly care how many monsters I have to kill," says Max with a uncared tone, he decides to proceed to the next area and arrives to another area bigger than the last one, except that the area was more leveled and it had a little river on the end. In there, he finds some kind of debris on the ground.

"Whoa, is this part of the dome? The explosion must have been huge to send this piece of debris here," thinks surprised, "there's nothing else interesting about it, better leave then," as Max was preparing to leave, he finds another recording device, "whoa, good thing I found it before I leaved, let's see what it has," as Max finishes saying that with a curious tone, he activated the recording. "Not only Boomas are turning violent, now the wolves are turning the same, something must be affecting all the fauna in this place. Good thing they are easy to beat, once you defeat the Alpha Wolf. Well, better keep moving," after the girl finishes saying that with a cheerful tone, the recording ends. "Wolves, huh? Wonder how the Alpha looks like?" as Max thinks that and proceeds to the door, three Wolves appear from the bushes and surround him. "Okay, you guys were waiting from there, weren't you?", as Max says that with an amused tone, a wolf tried to bite him from behind, but Max noticed quickly and rolled out of the way, "all right, let's rock bitches. Oh wait, you're wolves, never mind then," while saying that, Max pulls his saber and they surround him again.

Another Wolf tried to attack, but Max countered with a back kick, and send the Wolf flying a couple of yards away. Another Wolf tried to attack, but Max sidestepped and quickly cuts the Wolfs head off with a vertical slash. A second one tried to bite his arm, but Max turned the beam saber pointing it a little to his left and stabbed the Wolfs head right in the forehead. After killing the second one, a group of three Wolves appeared from afar. The two looked alike, except from the middle one, who was of a blue with purple color.

"More, huh? That blue guy must be the boss, since he looks different," as he thinks that he kills the last one with an horizontal slash, cutting through the mouth of the Wolf. Unfortunately, more wolves appear , "Okay, let's see what happens when I kill Mr. blue doggie" says with a cooed tone. Max rushes to the Alpha Wolf, but the other two wolves, close to the Alpha, rush to stop Max. Max simply cut them with ease, and launch a vertical slash to the Alpha, aiming to cut him in half. The Alpha dodged and counter attacked to his head, but Max blocked it and pushes the Alpha. Without noticing, they were standing in the little river. The two opponents, Max and the Alpha were looking eye to eye, waiting for the other to launch an attack. The opponents seemed to have though the same, since they tried to attack at the same time.

Max launched a horizontal attack, while the Alpha Wolf attack with a bite. Unfortunately for the Alpha, Max moved too quickly for the Alpha and sliced him in half, leaving the Alpha Wolf in a puddle of blood. Max watched as the wolves decide to leave the area after seeing their leader fall on the hands of Max.

"So, that's what happens. It seems they are not as strong as they seem to be with out their boss around," as he says that to himself with a mocking tone, the gate at the far end of the area opens, "well, let's go to the next area. Max enters to a smaller area with another small river in the middle of it. At the end, he sees a teleportation device.

"About time I found it," says with an annoyed tone, but he notice something wrong with it, "what the hell? Is not activated, is there some enemy around here?" as Max thinks that with a suspicious tone, he decide to look around the area, and find another recording, "another one, wonder why she's leaving this behind?" says Max with a curious tone, "oh well, they have some useful information about this monsters, let's check it out," after saying that, Max activates it, "ugh, I hate this Mothmants, they are so gross, and the Monest doesn't help much. I wonder how many can it carry? It always have more whenever you kill one, it's so annoying," after she says that with an annoyed tone, the recording ends.

"Gross? Wonder what is so gross about it?" as Max says that with a curious tone, he decides to look around again to see if there is any enemy or switch, but finds nothing.

"Okay, is this thing - " as Max was thinking that, he hears some kind of buzzing sound. Max quickly noticed above that some kind of three big purple insects with green legs and a pointy nose were descending from above.

"Never mind, it seems all I have to do is swat this annoying flies and it will activate," says with an unworried tone. Max pulls his saber and tries to cut them, but the insects simply fly higher to avoid the attack, "oh come one, that is really unfair, come and fight like the...uh, Mothmant you are, pussies," says Max with a mocking tone.

After saying that, a big, purple bag, was been carried down by more Mothmants, making it a total of six Mothmants, "okay, that could have gone worse" as Max says that with a nervous tone, a Mothmant try to sting him with the sharp nose, but Max dodge it. "Okay, since I can't cut you, I'll just shoot you," after saying that annoyed, Max puts the saber away and pull out his gun, "eat this, flying snots" saying with a mocking tone and starts shooting, hitting several Mothmants. Unfortunately, Max noticed that the bag simply spited more out.

"Okay, that must be the Monest, better take it out quickly" thinks Max, and starts shooting it several times. The Monest falls and starts spitting blood. " Ha, too easy, now to finish the rest" with that said with a determined tone, he shoots the rest of the Mothmant. After killing every last one, he proceeds to the teleportation device, "all right, this should take me close to the dome. I hope I found someone there," thinks Max worried for the worst.

After thinking that, he stands in the device, and activates it.

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1. Meseta: Money in Phantasy Star Online.

2. Booma: a brown animal with fur mostly on the upper body, sharp fangs, long claws, and walks on two legs.

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Next chapter: Max arrives outside of the dome.


	3. The Dome

The game does not belong to me, or anything in it. It belongs to SEGA, so please don't sue me, since I have no money.

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3. The Dome.

Max arrives to another area of the forest, after using the teleportation device. Max quickly noticed that it was darker and it was raining.

"What the? How come is raining here? The day was perfect until I arrived here," says Max surprised, he looks up and noticed that the sky was filled with dark clouds, "I wonder if the explosion has anything to do with the weather here?", thinks as Max explore the area.

The area that he arrived was on a small hill, with a ramp-like road in front of him. There was a door close to the top of the ramp and another one going down the ramp with a circular area on the right side of the ramp-like road.

"Well, no point in standing here doing nothing, better keep going and..huh?", thinks Max as he notice another recording device close by, "Another one, did she come this far? Better listen to it and hear what I have to expect of this area", as Max says that to himself, he plays the recording. "Be careful with those Rag Rappy (1), they might play dead after defeating them", says the girl.

"Okay, now am dealing with cowards, something like that must be very weak" says Max with an bored tone. After saying that he heard some kind of chirping sound, Max looks down, and noticed a little group of 4 yellow colored birds that are no bigger that 4 feet tall. "Those are the Rappies? They look more like giant chickens" amuses himself thinking that and decides to approach the Rappies. Max jumps down in front of the Rappies and turns to them. "They don't look dangerous", thinks Max and decides to approach them. Max notice that the Rappies are just sitting there, looking at him, not very surprised that he simply jump right in front of them out of nowhere, as far as Max was thinking. He approach one of them and tries to touch the Rappy with a finger, thinking that maybe he's inoffensive. Max got his answer rather quickly, as soon as his finger was close to the Rappy, it bites his finger with his beak.

"GAAHHHHH, HOLY MOTHER OF GOD, LET GO YOU FAT ASS CHICKEN!", yells in pain and anger. Max punches the Rappy with an uppercut, sending him flying a few yards away from him. "Now you're a flying chicken", says with a mocking tone. As soon as he frees his finger, he finds out that is still in it's rightful place, in his hand. Unfortunately, Max noticed that the other 3 Rappies cornered him to the wall. He turns around and gets his pistol out, pointing at the approaching Rappies, "and you guys will be roasted chickens instead", says Max with a grin on his face. Max opened fire to the Rappies, hitting all 3 of them in the head and putting them down. Finishing the fight rather quickly, Max puts his pistol away and inspects the Rappies to find any signs of life in them. Max remembers hearing in the message left about the Rappies playing dead after been defeated, so he believes that to avoid any surprise attack, he should check for any sign and finished them off if he finds any.

"No signs of life, huh? Well, if there's none, then there's no reason to stay here, better continue now that the door is open" says Max and continue to the next area, but as soon as he leaves the area, the "dead" Rappies get on their feet and start running away and into the bushes. Max heard the the noise and turned around just in time to see them fleeing away.

"What the hell? They were still alive? They might not be good at fighting, but they are good in playing dead" laughs Max as he finished saying that and decides to simply continue.

The next area wasn't that big and there was nothing special in it. As Max starts to walk inside, he noticed on his left an input device surrounded by water, making it look like some kind of well.

"Maybe I can use it to find some clues as to what happened to Pioneer 1, I wonder if it still works?" says Max in his head. As soon as Max started walking towards the machine, a group of 5 Boomas appeared in the area with the purpose of shredding him to pieces. "I also wonder when are you guys going to learn to leave me alone when am busy" says with a sigh.

They seem to ignore his comment, since they simply start walking towards him. Max decides to bring the fight to them and to end it quickly. Max pulls his saber and slash the first Booma in half, cutting him from his midsection. Another Booma attacks from the right, while another one attacks from the left. Max rolls backwards to avoid getting his head cut off. After recovering, he charge off again and launches a long horizontal slash, cutting both Boomas in half. Another Booma attacks from the front, but Max blocks it easily and attacks with a 2-slash combination, cutting him in pieces. The last Booma tried to attack from behind, but Max was too quick for him and he turned around with a horizontal slash. After finishing the last one, Max puts his saber away and the doors open.

Max would have normally left, but he wanted to check the input device. As Max got close, he noticed that getting to the device will be a little troublesome, because he noticed that he needed a bridge to cross. Great, now he has to find a way to activate the bridge. As soon as he finished that though, Max starts checking the area for something that will help him, and as easy as he found the device, he found the a small reactor on the left of the bridge.

"Maybe is malfunctioning, better see if I can fix it or something," say Max in his head, while fixing the malfunctioning reactor very easily, which activated the bridge. "Wow, even a seven-year old could have fixed this. Oh well, let's check the device for clues," says to himself.

Max crosses the bridge and tries to access the device, but it's not responding. "Dammit, and here I though I would find something about this place," says Max with frustration and decides to leave and proceed to the next area.

The next area wasn't that especial in Max's opinion, but it was longer than the previous areas, so he will give it credit for it. Near the entrance, Max finds another message device and listens to it, "there was supposed to be an explosion, but I can still see the dome of Pioneer 1. Is it possible that there was another cause for the disappearance of the people of Pioneer 1? Guess the only way to find out will be to continue," says the girl.

"She makes a point. If the explosion was so big, how come it's still in one piece? How come the forest is still in one piece with such an explosion? Better keep moving to find those answers," says Max in his head. After hearing the message, Max keeps walking and a group of 3 Boomas appear in front of him.

"You guys never seem to learn. No matter, the result will be the same," says Max with confidence in his voice. Max pulls his saber and decides to make it quick again using quick slashes, ending it rather quickly, in Max's opinion. Unfortunately, it wasn't over yet. After killing the Boomas, Wolf jump out of the bushes. "Well, that's a good change of pace, at least they are trying to make it more challenging," says Max amused in his head. Just like the Boomas, the Wolves posed no challenge to Max and are defeated just as easily. The gate opens, Max puts his saber away and proceeds to the next area.

The next area is not so special either, is smaller than the last one and is kind of circular. Close by, there was another one of those messages, and as always Max listens to it, "maybe the explosion wasn't meant to destroy Pioneer 1, maybe it was meant to change the creatures of this forest to attack the Dome, but if that was the case, they would have defended themselves and called for assistance if necessary. Hard to believe that turned all the animals, especially the Hilderbears since they are suppose to be docile creatures. This is starting to get more suspicious," says the girl's voice.

"That is a good point she made. Now she mentioned a new creature, wonder if it's going to be another weak enemy," and as soon as Max finished saying that, one of them appears in the middle of the area.

The Hilderbear was a big one, almost 13 feet tall with massive arms. The hands, feet and ears were pinkish red, while the rest of the body was black with sea blue patches. The eyes were yellow and the ears were long. As soon as he noticed Max he spits a fireball, which Max sidestepped.

"Okay, that thing is a giant, can probably crush me with his bare hands, and it spits fireballs. Challenging, but I think is going overboard," says Max as he pulls his saber out and ready himself for the fight.

The Hilderbear spits another fireball, but Max sidestepped again and decides to counterattack by charging to him. Max slash the Hilderbear chest, but is not enough to bring him down. The Hilderbear attacks with his right hand by punching Max to his left side, making him take a step back. He tries again with his left, but Max blocked just in time and decides to attack the left leg. Max injures the creatures leg making the Hilderbear fall to his other knee, and quickly stabs him in the back, piercing the creature easily. The Hilderbear cries in pain and quickly falls face down.

"Whoa, that was a little tougher than I though it would, better use some monomate and heal myself," says Max as he puts his saber away and uses a monomate. "Hey, now that I take a better look, am pretty close to the dome, is there a way to get up there?" as Max ask himself, he spots a teleportation device.

"Guess that's my way to the dome," Max then entered to the device. Max was transported to an open area, which looked like a small star port. Probably for expedition ships to land, but it looked as if it has been abandoned for years. The dome itself did not looked any better, especially with the awful weather. The place looked fit for a haunted place with the dull colors of the ones white dome and the walls all cracked.

"Whoa, this place is too creepy, and too quiet. Better move carefully and-" as Max was planning in his head, 2 Monest start to descend from the sky, "cut to pieces some oversized bugs. Never a dull moment, huh?" as Max finish that though, the Mothmant start to come out of their nests.

Max quickly pulls his saber out and charge quickly to the Monests, trying to avoid having to fight an endless battle. The Mohtmant try to stop Max, but they weren't quick enough. Max reached the Monest and cuts in half with a horizontal slash. Then, jumps to the air and falls with a vertical slash, cutting it in half also. The Mothmant decide to attack while Max was distracted, which was a big mistake. Max did not forgot about the Mothmant and attacks with a surprise attack, which hit all four of them. After finishing the battle, Max puts his saber away and proceeds to the opened door.

"Well, I must be getting close to the entrance of the dome, I wonder if there will be any clues inside? Guess the only way to find out, is to get inside," Max thinks as he starts to proceed to the next area of the dome.

The next area had a small corridor and at the end of it, on the left side, there was a door. Unfortunately, it was destroyed beyond repair. At the very end of the area, there was an inactive teleportation device, but it was different than the others. It was rectangular, and bigger than the others, big enough to hold a group. The right side of the teleportation device, there was no wall, and it have a view of the forest. Although, not high enough to see all of it.

"Another area with enemies, now what am I going to deal with now?" As soon as Max finished saying that, two Hilderbear jumped to the dome. "Wonder if I should have asked, 'how bad can it be?,' to make this more easier?" Max did not have time to ponder this, as one of them starts spitting fire to him. Max dodge the attack and pulls his saber out. Max runs to the Hilderbears, and the Hilderbear rise it's fists and strikes the ground. Max slide between the legs of the Hilderbear, while slashing it's left leg, leaving the Hilderbear on it's knee. The other Hilderbear tries to spit fire to Max, but Max dodge the attack and it strikes the back of it's friend.

"Thanks for the help, grass for brains," says Max in a mocking tone. Taking the opportunity, Max finishes the wounded Hilderbear by stabbing it in the back. The Hilderbear must have been able to understand what Max said, since the Hilderbear gave a roar and started to charge at Max.

"Whoa ho, I think I hit a nerve right there," says Max surprised as he starts avoiding the enraged Hilderbear's attacks. The attacks were ferocious, but they leave a lot of openings to attack. Max continue to avoid, waiting for an opening to finish him off. The moment arrived when the Hilderbear throws a right punch, Max sidestep, and cut the arm off. The Hilderbear cried in pain and attempts to attack with the other arm. Just as easily, Max avoids it, closes in, and attacks the chest with an upward slash. Then, spins around, and launches an horizontal attack to the midsection of the Hilderbear. The Hilderbear falls after that, and the teleportation device activates.

"That was challenging, but I guess lady luck was in love with me for the moment," says Max with confidence in his voice, while putting his saber away. "Well, let's use the teleportation device and see where it leads. It may even lead me inside of the dome," says Max with a reassuring voice, and enters into the device, ready to face anything and hoping that he find anyone or anything that can tell him what happened in Pioneer 1.

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Next chapter: What does Max find inside of the dome?


	4. The Dragon

The game does not belong to me, or anything in it. It belongs to SEGA, so please don't sue me, since I have no money. Sorry if I take too long to upload the chapters, sometimes I just get lazy, but your reviews help me get back to write. So here is the next chapter.

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4. The Dragon

After Max entered the teleportation device, he appeared in a big, spherical room. The problem with the room is that, it did not looked like a room, but a cave. The ground was solid rock and the walls as well, with cracks showing circuits of the room's system.

"What happened in this place? Am I on a volcano or something?", says Max confused and starts looking around the room in disbelief. When Max looked up to the ceiling, he got the surprise of his life, hanging on the ceiling was an enormous dragon.

The dragon was 14 feet tall, orange color with black patches, yellow eyes, a tail that was split in two at the end, a horn on its forehead, sharp fangs, claws and it had wings. The dragon was simply hanging, but it took notice of Max when he spoke. The dragon dropped from the ceiling, making its fall safe thanks to its wings. When it landed it gave a mighty roar, releasing flames from its mighty jaws.

"WHAT THE HELL IS A DRAGON DOING INSIDE OF THE DOME?" yells Max in surprise and disbelief. The dragon starts shooting fireballs towards Max, but he avoids them by rolling to his left. Max decides to pull his saber and charges towards the dragon.

"It might be big, but it might have a harder time trying to attack me if I get to its feet," with that plan in mind Max gets close to the dragon's feet and starts attacking them.

The dragon's scales were really tough, but it still inflict some significant damage. The dragon makes a small roar in pain and starts trying to stomp Max. Fortunately for Max, the dragon was not fast enough to land a perfect stomp on him. Max was focusing on attacking the dragons feet, and when he caused enough damage to the feet, the dragon fell to its stomach. Max got away from been flattened by the dragons massive weight, but he got caught in the shockwave of the dragons fall and was send flying away. Max landed on its back, but got back to its feet quickly. Unfortunately, Max was send flying 8 yards away from the dragon. Max tried to reach the dragon and attack its head while it was down, but by the time he reach, the dragon was getting back to its feet.

"Dammit! Oh well, I can just cut your legs again and make you fall, AGAIN!" Max roars and charges at the dragon, but he underestimated the dragon. The dragon rised its wings and started flapping its wings. The movement of the wings stopped Max on his advance towards the dragon.

"Oh, you think you escaped me, huh? You think you escaped me? Well you didn't, because I have a GUN," with that said, Max puts his saber away and pulls out his handgun. The dragon started spiting fire at Max, but Max dodge them easily.

"Your aim is as bad as a blind person," says Max, mocking the dragon. The dragon simply kept spiting fire at him. Max decided to go on the offensive.

"Eat photon, you overgrown lizard," and with that said, Max takes aim and shoots. The bullet would have normally hit the dragon, since its kind of hard to miss with its size, but there was a problem. The bullet lost its energy, 20 centimeters away from its target, and Max remembered something important.

"OH MY GOD, I FORGOT THAT THE HANDGUN IS NOT GOOD FOR LONG RANGE COMBAT!" yells in the shocking realization. While Max was in his shocking state, the dragon wasted no time in spitting a fireball at him without warning. By the moment Max recovered from his state, it was too late to dodge the attack. Max was hit in the chest making him cough in pain. He hits and bounce off the ground 3 feet in the air, then falling face first. The dragon decides to take the opportunity to finish Max by landing on top of him. Fortunately, Max was recovering while the dragon was approaching, giving him enough time to prepare for its attack. When the dragon started descending, Max rolled out of the way, but the landing force send him flying away.

"Ugh, damn this burns, I need a change to heal," as Max was thinking that, he put away his gun and grabs a monomate and uses it to heal his wounds.

"Not enough to fully heal me, but it will do for a now," murmurs to himself, but the dragon did not wasted any time. The dragon started to spit fire at Max, but misses since he was not distracted like before.

"Not this time scaly, am not letting my guard down again," says with a serious face and pulls his saber out. With it in hand, Max charges at the dragon again, while dodging the dragons fireballs.

The dragon did not looked like it was trying to fly, since it was just trying to hit Max with a fireball. Maybe it got too tired flying its fat ass around the room, amuses himself in his mind while getting close to the dragon. Once Max reached its feet, he started attacking the feet again while avoiding getting stomped by the dragon. The dragon falls on its belly again, but this time, Max was ready for it. Max rolls out of the way, stuck his saber to the ground and starts to hold as if his life depended on it, which it actually did since he was fighting for his life. Thanks to this idea, Max was not sent flying and he was close to the dragon to cause some serious damage in the head. Max pulls his saber off the ground and charges straight to the dragons head. Max attacks the dragons head with relentless slashes, while the dragon tried to counterattack, but it was too slow for Max. By the time the dragon recovered enough strength on its feet to get up, it was severely injured with cuts showed on its face. Max tried to go to the feet of the dragon, but it took flight again and send him flying with the strength of its wings.

"Heh, trying to escape the inevitable defeat, huh? You have to come down here eventually," says Max with an all-knowing tone and a smirking face, while recovering from been launched. What happened next put that smirk away from his face and leaved him with his eyes wide open.

First, the dragon flied a little higher than normal, then it dived head first into the ground.

"Okay, I did NOT expected that. I was expecting it to start shooting fireballs like a maniac, but I guess it was smarter than what I though," says Max with a surprised face.

Max recovered quickly from his stupor, remembering what happened the last time that he did that. Max took a look around, but found nothing out of the ordinary. Max still did not let his guard down and kept a look out for the dragon. Max's did not stood his guard for nothing, he noticed from the corner of his eye something moving from below the ground and started going towards him.

"WHOA, this doesn't look good," Max murmurs to himself and tries to move out of the way, but the dragon changed to the same direction that he moved to.

"No, no no no NO!" Max starts to repeat as if the dragon would stop just because he said no.

Fortunately, Max managed to roll out of the way just in time to avoid been rammed. By the time Max recovered from the roll, the dragon started charging towards him again.

"Aw, come on, come and fight like a...um...a dragon or something. What the hell are you a dude or a girl?" as Max was asking that the dragon just kept going towards him.

Max waited the right moment to move out of the way off the dragon, but it did not went well for him. The dragon flied out off the floor, hitting Max with its shoulder. Fortunately, it did not caused any serious injury, but it hurt like hell, like been kicked by another hunter, Max thinks while in mid-air. The dragon spin around and recover balance in mid-air, while Max falls to the ground on his back.

"Damn, this dragon is just full of surprises, what comes next? The moon walk?" says Max to amuse himself after been sent flying.

Of course, Max did not had time to fool around because the dragon was planning to land on him. Max started to believe that the dragon was not as smart as he though at first, or that its desperate to finish the fight. Max's thoughts were interrupted when he noticed the dragon about to land on top of him. Max easily rolled out of the way and quickly got up to his feet. Now that Max was on his feet, he noticed that the dragon was showing signs of exhaustion, signaling that the match will end soon if he planned his next move. Instead of going off and do the same thing again, Max replaced his saber for his handgun and started shooting at the dragons head. The dragon did not had a change to counterattack and, due to the previous attack damaging its scales, could not resist the bullets as much as before. The dragon started to slowly fall while been attack, and before it finally fell, it gave a mighty roar. With that, marked the end of the tremendous match, leaving an injured Max as the victor.

"Finally...its over. Damn, now that I notice, everything hurts like crap," says Max exhausted and puts his handgun away.

Now that the dragon was down, Max started to explore the room that he is in, trying to find a door or some kind of entrance into the dome. At the far end of the room, he notice some crates close to a suspicious looking wall.

"Well, I might have found something worth checking in this room," Max starts to approach to the other side as he finishes his thoughts.

Max approached to the boxes first and starts breaking them with his fists. To Max, it seemed as if it became the normal way to open crates, even though they could be open in a better way, but he didn't feel like finding another way after the fight that he got into. After breaking them, Max found some meseta, monomates and a sword the size of a person.

"Now that's what I would call a price. Time to check this wall," says Max while approaching said wall. In closer look, Max founds that the wall has cracks and looks about to fall. Maybe it got like that during the fight, he wonders. Max decides to use his new sword and breaks the wall with a mighty slash. The wall revealed an entrance leading to some lower level. Close to the entrance, on the right side, Max found another one of the recording devices. Just like the others, Max decides to put away his sword and starts to listen to the message.

"I wonder where this entrance leads to? How come they never mentioned this before? Where they hiding something? What ever caused the people to disappear might be down there, or my name is not Red Ring Rico. Time to check inside," and with that the message ends.

"Red Ring Rico? I have heard about her, she's like some kind of hero. As far as I know, she was sent here, but I don't know for what. Maybe security since she's a tough one, wonder how she escaped the explosion?" murmurs Max while taking a look to the entrance.

"I better report this to the Principal. He might also know something about Red Ring Rico and what happened to her, but before that, am going to get some help, am beat," as Max finishes planning what to do, he uses a telepipe and goes back to Pioneer 2.

* * *

Next chapter: Max reports what he found and gets help from the office.


	5. The Force

The game does not belong to me, or anything in it. It belongs to SEGA, so please don't sue me, since I have no money. Also, I won't write any of the sub-missions because it will take me longer to finish this story. Now, without further delays, here's the next chapter.

5. The Force.

Max arrives back to Pioneer 2, after his battle with the Dragon found inside the Dome of Pioneer 1. After arriving, Max went to the first place that he though was obvious, the Medical Center, which was close to the only way to go to Ragol. It was obvious to Max, because he felt half dead, even though he used a monomate on his way back.

The great thing about the Medical Center, was that it cost 100 mesetas to be healed completely. Max had no idea why it was so cheap, he believes that it is cheap because so many Hunters get injure during different missions on Ragol. Either way, Max uses their services, and with it, he feels as good as new. Later on, Max heads to the Principal's office.

When Max arrived, it looked the same as before, the Principal working on his computer, his secretary working on her computer, and some scientists that he did not noticed before where working on their own computer. Max approached to the middle of the office and all the workers turn their full attention to him.

"Max, you have returned, and it only took you a few hours", says Principal Tyrell a little surprised.

"Really? It feels like it took longer than that", says Max surprised that it took him a few hours to pass through the forest and reach the dome.

"I see" says the Principal, "so tell me, what did you find down there?" asks the Principal, showing professional curiosity in his voice.

"Well sir, the forest looks very normal, with the lush trees and the rivers, but the fauna was extremely hostile and I have to use force to proceed", says Max while looking if this surprised the people in the office, yet they did not show any signs of it.

"I see, did you reached the dome?" asks the Principal.

"Yes, sir" answers Max.

"How was it?" asks the Principal

"The area around the dome was the same as the forest, except that it was raining, but once I entered the dome, I found something unexpected" answers Max.

"Unexpected? What was inside?" asks the Principal with tremendous curiosity, since he cannot imagine what could it be inside that would be considered unexpected.

"What I found was a room covered in hardened magma, I think, and a dragon", says Max and he got the reaction that he believed he would get with his findings.

"A DRAGON?! Did it attacked you?" asks the Principal, showing his surprise, just like the rest of the people in the office.

"Yes, sir. I also found a door going underground after I defeated the dragon," answers Max, feeling lucky that he survive such battle.

"You actually defeated the dragon on your own? That's quite impressive, but I think it wasn't such an easy fight." says the Principal.

"No sir, it wasn't, right after I arrived, I went straight to the Medical Center to get all patched up" answers Max without hesitation.

"I could imagine the battle that you had with it," says the Principal.

"There's something else I found on Ragol while I was heading to the dome," says Max, which made the entire office interested to hear it.

"And what was it?" asks the Principal.

"There were this little recording devices left behind by some girl, while I was on my way to the dome. She mostly left advices on how to deal with the animals in the forest. It also sounded like she was investigating something." as soon as Max finished reporting, he barely noticed the stiff atmosphere that the Principal released at the mention of this girl.

"Sir? Do you know who this girl is?" asks Max, wondering why he got like that.

"Her name is Red Ring Rico, a Hunter that we send to investigate what happened on Pioneer 1. Unfortunately, we lost contact with her. Am sure you have heard of her" says the Principal.

"Of course sir, she's well known around Pioneer 2, almost like a hero" says Max, barely hiding the excitement of knowing that he was following the famous Red Ring Rico. Then, he realized what the Principal said about her.

"Am sorry, did you said that contact with Red Ring Rico was lost?" asks Max incredulous, especially since she was a great fighter.

"Yes, it's been days since we lost contact with her, that's why we hired you to finish what she started and to hopefully..." says the Principal before he suddenly stopped. Everyone in the office noticed the heavy air that was on the Principal. The Principal suddenly regain his composure, "to find her and bring her back if possible", finishes saying the Principal.

"Uh, yes sir" says Max.

"Good, now this door that you find, you say that it might go underground?" asks the Principal.

"Yes, sir" answers Max.

"There are not reports of a mining expedition or something of the sorts" says the Principal.

"Does that mean that they were investigating something dangerous?" asks one of the scientists in the office.

"Or doing something illegal", says the Principal's assistant.

"Nothing is for sure. Max, enter through the door and continue your investigation" order the Principal.

"Yes, sir" says Max.

"Oh, before you go, I think is best that we add another member in this investigation. I speak for everyone else when I say that this investigation is starting to get more dangerous than what we have expected." explains the Principal.

"I understand sir, I will take as much help as I can get, especially if am gonna get into fights with enemies like the dragon", says Max.

"Glad you understand", says Principal, before he pushed one of the buttons on his desk. "Matha, please come to the office" says the Principal.

"Yes, sir" answers a female voice through the communicator.

"Thank you" says the Principal.

After finishing the call, a person appears from the teleportation device that Max used to get to the office. Max watched her and noticed that she was a Force, simply by looking at her red, long-sleeve gown that goes from her neck to her feet. She had pink hair in two bundles on each side of her head and her skin was kind of pale, but did not looked sick. Max also noticed that she looked like she was on her teens. The woman walked all the way, until she was besides Max.

"Max, let me introduce to you, Matha Grave. Her parents are scientists working for the government in top secret research. Unfortunately, her father was sent to Pioneer 1 and, along with the rest of the crew, went missing. She decided to join the investigation, if you help her along the way to find her father", the Principal finishes to explain.

"I see, is a fair deal" says Max.

"Thank you for your understanding" says Matha gratefully.

"No problem" says Max.

"Well, now that the two of you are introduced to each other, you can go now. Report what you find as soon as you can, and be careful" orders Principal Tyrell.

"Yes, sir" both Max and Matha say and leave the office.

Once outside Matha said, "Max, there's something you should know about my search."

"And that is?" ask Max suspicious of her.

"The thing is that, am not 'exactly' looking for my father, that was just an excuse to join this investigation." explains Matha.

"What do you mean as an excuse?" asks Max, all confused of what she's saying.

"I knew that they would let me join if I told them that I was looking for my father, since he's one of their top scientists," says Matha.

"Then, who is it that you're really looking for?" asks Max.

"My butler, Blant. As you can tell, my parents didn't have enough time to spent with me, due to their work, so he always took care of me, but he disappeared a few days ago" explains Matha.

"I see, they might have said that it would be a waste of time to go and find a simple butler, instead of a famous scientist", says Max.

"Exactly, am sorry for keeping it a secret", says Matha, hoping not to lose Max's trust.

"Don't worry, I'll help you find your butler" declares Max.

"Thank you" says Matha with feeling in her voice.

"Your welcome. Now I need to prepare, since I used some items in my last fight" says Max.

"Okay, am already prepared so, I'll wait by the teleportation device" says Matha.

"Okay, it won't take long for me" says Max and they both depart on their ways.

Max went to the shopping area. There was a tall building and inside it were some shops. Inside the building was circular and from the was the appraiser, going to the left of it was the weapons shop, then the items shop, and the last one was the armor shop. Max went straight to the item shop and got some more monomate,telepipes and moon atomizers(1), just in case.

After that, Max went to Matha, who was waiting outside the teleportation device.

"Did you finish preparing?" asks Matha.

"Yeah, am all set, let's go" says Max and they both start going into the device. Max noticed the worried look on Matha face.

"Don't worry, he might be alive down there" tries to assure Matha.

"I hope you're right. Don't worry about me, am ready for any outcome" says Matha with conviction in her voice.

"Glad to hear it, let's head to Ragol. We can get to the last spot I was with the teleportation device, thanks to the coordinates I got with the telepipe" says Max and Matha answers with a nod.

Max and Matha go to the teleportation device and head to Ragol, ready to face whatever dangers and mysteries that awaits for them.

1. Moon Atomizer – An item used to revive KO'd allies.

Next chapter: What does this new team finds through the doors that leads underground?


End file.
